The overall records tell one story, but Thursday night in St. Louis’ gym told another — the Saints are still the team to beat in Division III, District 2.

After dropping the first two sets, St. Louis pulled a dramatic comeback Wednesday night, winning the final three sets (17-25, 22-25, 28-26, 25-21, 15-5) to snap Westlake’s 11-match winning streak and take early control of the district championship race.

Westlake (18-3, 2-1) looked as if it had control after winning the first two sets 25-16 and 25-22. But St. Louis (6-9, 3-0), battled back in the third set to take it 28-26.

The Saints’ comeback was keyed by returners from last season’s state semifinalist. Da’Sha Pitre, Shannon Dalton and libero Abbi Lafosse carried the Saints through from the third set on. Pitre and Dalton combined for 31 kills and the trio combined for 37 digs after a slow start to help keep points alive.

“Westlake came out firing, and that’s a very good volleyball team,” St. Louis coach Luke Pousson said. “A lot of (our improvement) was that we minimized our mistakes. We started making them earn their points more and we had to make adjustments.

“We had to serve a little tougher and swing a little harder. The girls believed in it and they did it. It took a whole team effort.”

Perhaps most important was the Saints’ serving. Lafosse gave the team four aces in the final set as St. Louis finished strong and took it 15-5 to win the match.

“We shut down,” Westlake coach Gloria Fontenot said. “We were playing not to lose instead of playing to win. We kept doing the same stuff over and over and they adjusted to it. We didn’t come out offensively and they adjusted to it.”

Westlake junior hitter Jaden Towner was the offensive bright spot for the Rams. She had 21 kills, three aces and eight blocks.

“(Towner) absolutely carried us,” Fontenot said. “But when I’ve got six hitters, five of them solid, and only one shows up, we’ve got problems.”(Rick Hickman/American Press)